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Political Notebook: Huckabee 'stock' rising Sunday, Dec 2, 2007 By Jason C. Green and Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Mike Huckabee stock is up. Literally. Two Web sites that allow trading on politics show a substantial increase in "contracts" predicting that the presidential hopeful from Hope will cinch the Republican nomination. Newsfutures.com is a free site that issues contracts that pay off 100 credits if the contract prediction proves true and zero if the prediction is false. The price of a contract depends on how much faith traders have in an outcome Huckabee contracts were initially offered at 15 credits two weeks ago. On Friday, the site showed a 40 percent increase, to 21 credits. The former Arkansas governor had reached a high of 38 credits earlier last week, likely after news of his surge in Iowa polling. But he dropped back later in the week. "Well it was probably a mistake not to list him earlier but he wasn't on anybody's radar, but some traders started clamoring that we had to list him.", said Emile Servan-Schreiber, executive officer of Newsfutures.com. By comparison, at week's end, Rudy Giuliani was at 44 credits and Mitt Romney was at 32 credits on the Newsfutures site. Another site, Intrade.com, showed Huckabee support growing about 65 percent from last Monday's price of 8 credits to 12.3 credits on Friday. Lott not missed a lot Advocates of economic development in the Delta region lost an ally in the Senate last week when Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., announced his resignation. The head of the nongovernmental Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus said the group has "mixed feelings" about Lott's departure. Though the former Senate majority leader wielded influence because of his seniority, caucus members remained angry over Lott's seeming endorsement of segregationist policies during a 2002 speech. "I would say he does have a certain concern for the region and a lot of seniority," said Lee Powell, caucus president. "But almost half of our membership are African-American, so naturally, they were concerned about that remark." Lott was an advocate of the Delta Regional Authority when it was created in 2000. Since then, he had been supportive of Delta issues, Powell said. The caucus lobbies Congress for funding of the authority, a federal agency that awards economic development grants in the 240-county region. Powell said his group relied more on Lott's colleague, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., to promote its agenda. Huck and Chuck Not only is Mike Huckabee "Chuck approved," actor and martial arts expert Chuck Norris has pronounced the GOP presidential candidate a "man's man." Norris said last week that he and Huckabee worked out together at his Texas ranch after filming a television advertisement there earlier this month. Huckabee, a bit of a fitness buff after losing 105 pounds several years ago, held his own with the Tae Kwon Do champion. "I said, 'You know, I wonder what kind of shape he's in,'" Norris said. "I said, 'You know, Mike, I've got a gym out there. Would you like to work out with me?' "He did. He put on his sweats and went out there. I put on the gloves with him and worked out. The thing is, I just wanted to see, you know, if he was a man's man." In the commercial, Norris endorsed Huckabee and said he was "Chuck approved." Norris joined Huckabee on the campaign trail last week, appearing for him at a debate in Florida and at a luncheon for Washington reporters the next day. Norris and his wife, Gena, said the campaign appearances were voluntary. Huckabee has not paid anything for Norris' participation in the TV spot or his trips on the candidate's behalf. "I know Mike's the dark horse, and he's going to need something to boost him up, to get the people behind him," Norris said. "If I can have any influence in that at all, then I'm more than happy to do it." |
